Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City (46 page)
Read Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City Online
Authors: Hilary Sumner-Boyd,John Freely
Tags: #Travel, #Maps & Road Atlases, #Middle East, #General, #Reference
In soffit of south arch, east side
52. Christ healing the Leper (Matt. 8:2–3)
In soffit of south arch, west side
53. Christ healing... (inscription and half mosaic lost)
In southern lunette
54. Christ healing various Diseases (Matt. 15:30)
In western lunette
End of the Cycle of Christ’s Ministry
VI. The panels in the nave
55. The Dormition (Koimesis) of the Virgin
Over the central door from the narthex
The Virgin lies dead on her bier. Behind stands Christ holding her soul, represented as a babe in swaddling clothes. Over Christ’s head hovers a six-winged seraph. Around stand the apostles, evangelists and early bishops. The idea is taken from an apocryphal work,
Concerning the Koimesis of the Holy Mother of God,
ascribed to St. John the Divine.
56. Christ
In panel at left of bema
Inscription as in outer narthex. Christ holds the Gospels open to Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
57. The Virgin Hodegitria
In panel at right of bema
Inscription as in outer narthex. The type is that of the Hodegitria, the Guide or Teacher, the original of which was supposed to have been painted by St. Luke from life.
THE PARECCLESION: THE FRESCOES
The superb fresco decoration of the parecclesion or side chapel to the south of the church was the last part of Metochite’s work of redecoration to be carried out, probably in 1320–1. The great but unknown master artist of these frescoes was probably the same as the one who did the mosaics in the rest of the church. The decoration of the chapel is designed to illustrate its purpose as a place of burial. Above the level of the cornice the paintings represent the Resurrection and the Life, the Last Judgement, Heaven and Hell, and the Mother of God as the Bridge between Earth and Heaven. Below the cornice is a procession of saints and martyrs, interrupted here and there by tombs. We shall deal first with the upper series of frescoes beginning at the east, then list the saints below cornice level, and finally say a few words about the tombs.
I. Scenes of Resurrection
1. The Anastasis
In the semidome of the apse
This scene, called Anastasis (Resurrection) in Greek, is known in English as the Harrowing of Hell. Christ has broken down the gates of Hell which lie beneath his feet; Satan, bound, lies before him. With his right hand he pulls Adam out of his tomb; behind Adam stand St. John the Baptist, David, Solomon and other righteous kings. With his left hand he pulls Eve out of her tomb; standing in it is Abel and behind him another group of the righteous. This is surely one of the great paintings of the world.
2. Christ raising the Widow’s Son
North side of bema arch
The inscription is the title. The story is only told by Luke (7:11–15).
3. Christ raising the Daughter of Jairus
South side of bema arch
Inscription illegible but doubtless the title. The story is in all three Synoptic Gospels, perhaps best in Mark (5:22–4, 35–43). In crown of arch the
Archangel Michael
in a medallion.
II. The Last Judgement: Heaven and Hell
4. The Second Coming of Christ
In vault of eastern bay
This vast scene occupies the whole vault; the title is inscribed at the centre. It represents the Doctrine of the Last Things; death, judgement, immortality in heaven or dam nation in hell. In the crown is the Scroll of Heaven (Apocalypse 6:14). In the eastern half sits Christ in Judgement. To the souls of the saved he says: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34) To the condemned souls on his left he says: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41) Below to left a River of Fire broadening to a lake in which are the damned. Below Christ the Etimasia or empty throne prepared for the Second Coming: Adam and Eve prostrate before it. Below this the Weighing and Condemnation of Souls. The western half of the vault is occupied by the Choirs of the Elect in clouds.
5. The Land and Sea giving up their Dead
In SW pendentive
No inscription; cf. Apocalypse 20:13.
6. An Angel conducts the Soul of Lazarus to Heaven
7. Lazarus the Beggar in Abraham’s Bosom
8. The Rich Man in Hell
In NW, NE and SE pendentives
The scenes illustrate Luke 16:19–26: the Rich Man had refused alms to Lazarus in this world; he went to hell and appealed to Lazarus in heaven for water but was refused.
9. The Torments of the Damned
In lunette of south wall, eastern half
Four rectangular panels identified as: (upper left) The Gnashing of Teeth; (upper right) The Outer Darkness; (lower left) The Worm that Sleepeth Not; (lower right) The Unquenchable Fire.
10. The Entry of the Elect into Paradise
In lunette of north wall
The Elect are led by St. Peter towards the Gate of Paradise, guarded by a Cherub; the Good Thief welcomes them and points to the enthroned Mother of God.
III. The Mother of God and Her Prefigurations
This cycle, in the western dome and bay, represents the Blessed Virgin and a series of five episodes from the Old Testament which came to be symbolically interpreted as prefigurations or “types” of the Virgin and the Incarnation.
11. The Virgin and Child with Angels
In the western dome
The Virgin and Child in the crown surrounded by the heavenly court of angels in the spaces between the ribs.
12. Four Hymnographers
In the pendentives of the dome
These poets were chosen because in their hymns, verses of which are inscribed on their scrolls, they referred to the prefigurations of the Virgin depicted below. (NE) St. John Damascene; (SE) St. Cosmas the Poet; (SW) St Joseph the Poet; (NW) St. Theophanes.
13. Jacob’s Ladder; Jacob wrestling with the Angel
In western half of north lunette
The ladder or bridge to heaven as a prefiguration of the Virgin. Inscribed: “And Jacob took one of the stones of the place, and put it at his head, and lay down to sleep in that place; and behold, a ladder fixed on the earth, whose top reached to heaven, and the angels of God ascended and descended on it. And the Lord stood upon it.” (Genesis 28:11–13). Note that the Lord, here and elsewhere, is represented by the Virgin and Child.
14. Moses and the Burning Bush; Moses hides his Face
In eastern half of north lunette and on soffit of arch
The burning bush that was not consumed as a prefiguration of the Virgin. First scene inscribed: “Now Moses came to the mountain of God, even to Choreb. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame out of the bush … Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where upon thy standest is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:1–2, 5). Second scene, on adjacent arch, inscribed: “And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” (Exodus 3:6).
15. The Dedication of Solomon’s Temple
Four scenes on south wall
The Ark of the Covenant as a prefiguration of the Virgin. First scene, in west half of south lunette of east bay, is inscribed: “And it came to pass when Solomon was finished building the house of the Lord, then he assembled all the elders of Israel in Sion, to bring the Ark of the Covenant to the Lord out of the City of David, that is Sion, and the priests took up the Ark of the Covenant as a prefiguration of the testimony.” (I Kings 8:1–4). Second scene, on soffit of arch, inscription lost but probably continuation of verse 4: “and the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle of testimony.” Third scene, on east half of south lunette, inscribed: “and the king and all Israel were assembled before the Ark.” (v 5). Fourth scene, on west half of south lunette, inscribed: “And the priests bring in the Ark of the Covenant, into the oracle of the house, even into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.” (I Kings 8:6)
16. Isaiah and the Angel
In south soffit of western arch
The inviolable city as a prefiguration of the Virgin. The inscription on Isaiah’s scroll is almost illegible but probably reads: “Thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city’.” (Isaiah 37:33)
17. Aaron and his Sons before the Altar
In north soffit of western arch
The altar as a prefiguration of the Virgin. Inscription, practically illegible, is perhaps: “They draw nigh to the altar and offer their sin-offerings and their whole burnt offerings.” (Leviticus 9:7)
18. The Souls of the Righteous in the Hand of God
In crown of western arch
Almost entirely lost, but one can make out part of the Hand of God holding the souls of the righteous, represented as infants in swaddling-bands.
IV. The Saints and Martyrs
A long procession of saints and martyrs marches about the lower walls of the parecclesion; in the apse stand six Fathers of the Church (from left to right):
St. Athanasius
St. Gregory the Theologian
St. John Chrysostomos
St. Nicholas of Myra
St. Basil
St. Cyril of Alexandria
The Virgin Eleousa
, the Merciful or Compassionate on south wall of bemaSouth Wall
(east to west):
North Wall
(west to east):St. George of Cappadocia
St. Eustathius Plakidas
St. Florus (medallion)
St. Samonas of Edessa
St. Laurus (medallion)
St. Gurias of Edessa
St. Demetrius of Thessalonika
St. Artemius or St. Nicetas
St. Theodore Tyro
St. Bacchus (medallion)
St. Theodore Stratelates
St. Sergius (medallion)
St. Mercurius
An unidentified saint
St. Procopius
Medallion of unidentified saint
St. Sabah Stratelates
A stylite saint
West Wall
South pier:
An unidentified saint
North pier:
St. David of Thessalonika (in an almond tree where he lived for three years)
As will be noticed, most of these saints belong to the Eastern Church and are almost unknown in the West. Pictures of many of them appear also in the outer narthex, but since they are chiefly of interest only to the student of Eastern hagiology it has not seemed necessary to name them.
THE TOMBS
There were four tombs in the parecclesion, each in a deep niche which originally held a sarcophagus with mosaics or frescoes above; some fragments of the latter still exist.